Who's your Flash?

[John Dunbar]

Wally? Barry? Jay? Other? Discuss.

[Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)]

I was first exposed to Flash comics during the Silver Age, so of course that means Barry. I wasn't reading comics by the time The Great Crisis happened. So when I picked up Flash comics again as an adult, I was surprised to see Wally wearing the suit (I hadn't read any of the Kid Flash stories as a kid, so he was totally new to me). But the issues starting with the Waid run were when I really started following the character (I actually had to go back a couple years to read the beginning of it), so I'd have to say that Wally is my Flash.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I'm torn. Barry's my childhood Flash, but Wally's the Flash who grew up when I did. What makes me feel even closer to Wally is that I feel much the same way about Barry that he does. So Wally's sort of my Flash, but Barry's my Flash's Flash, I guess.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Barry was technically the Flash of my childhood since he was the one in Super Friends but I never really cared about him.

For me, Wally is the Flash. By the time I started collecting DC comics--not just Marvels--Wally was Flash and Barry was dead. I like Jay and Bart and even Barry (a little bit*) but Wally will probably always be my Flash.

*I mainly like Barry because Wally does. Wally's a good guy and I trust his opinion.

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

The first Flash comic I read was a reprint of Flash Comics #1 with Jay Garrick. Around the same time, I got a Brave and the Bold with Batman and the Barry Allen Flash, and Barry was in the series when I started reading every issue. There was also a special issue with Barry, Jay, and Wally together somewhere in there. I've liked them all, but I still have a fondness for Jay because he was the first I "met."

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Wally. I've read and enjoyed more of his stories than any other Flash. I am sorry to say that Barry was more interesting dead than he was alive. They did give Barry much more of a personality though in the flashback stories they did.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Travis Herrick said:

Wally. I've read and enjoyed more of his stories than any other Flash. I am sorry to say that Barry was more interesting dead than he was alive. They did give Barry much more of a personality though in the flashback stories they did.

Actually, I think Barry was plenty interesting -- particularly once Iris died. They regularly put him through the wringer -- sometimes a Spider-Man level wringer -- for extended periods of time. The most prominent were the death of Iris story (which lasted something like a year, followed by his gradual acceptance of widowerhood), and then the much-derided (but not by me) Trial of the Flash. But there were other times, too: The Ringmaster series, when Iris started skipping out on Barry for a new hero (due to mind control), was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster for the time, as were the weird hallucinations he was experiencing thanks to the Roscoe Award (circa 254-256). Then, around the late 290s, he had to deal with his father becoming a supervillain (possessed by The Top), which caused some stress, too. And I remember the Eradicator/Goldface issues (starting in 314, leading up to the attempt on Fiona's life on their wedding day, which sparked the Trial) as a particularly interesting time to be Barry as well.

I think Barry gets a bad rap as being boring because since his death, he's been canonized/frozen-in-amber into the silver-age aspects of his character. But there was a lot going on with him in later years.

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

I agree with Rob. When I started reading the Flash series, it was very exciting to my 10- or 11-year-old self.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Rob Staeger said:

Travis Herrick said:

Wally. I've read and enjoyed more of his stories than any other Flash. I am sorry to say that Barry was more interesting dead than he was alive. They did give Barry much more of a personality though in the flashback stories they did.

Actually, I think Barry was plenty interesting -- particularly once Iris died. They regularly put him through the wringer -- sometimes a Spider-Man level wringer -- for extended periods of time. The most prominent were the death of Iris story (which lasted something like a year, followed by his gradual acceptance of widowerhood), and then the much-derided (but not by me) Trial of the Flash. But there were other times, too: The Ringmaster series, when Iris started skipping out on Barry for a new hero (due to mind control), was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster for the time, as were the weird hallucinations he was experiencing thanks to the Roscoe Award (circa 254-256). Then, around the late 290s, he had to deal with his father becoming a supervillain (possessed by The Top), which caused some stress, too. And I remember the Eradicator/Goldface issues (starting in 314, leading up to the attempt on Fiona's life on their wedding day, which sparked the Trial) as a particularly interesting time to be Barry as well.

I think Barry gets a bad rap as being boring because since his death, he's been canonized/frozen-in-amber into the silver-age aspects of his character. But there was a lot going on with him in later years.

When I first started reading the Flash was at the end of Barry's series, and I liked those stories too. I just think he was better dead. I think it also added to Wally's story as well. My first issue was 349, so I just had 1 left and then I went back and bought the ones leading up to the two I had.

I still think I am right in that he was given more depth in his flashback stories after he died. Then again so have a lot of characters.

[Batmatt Beyond]

Oddly enough, Barry was also my first Flash, but he isn't my Flash. I've mentioned before that I had to rely on the scattershot supply of comics at local convenience stores from most of the 1980s. As a result of that, the very first Flash comics I picked up took place around the "Trial" period. I was the only comics fan in most of the towns I lived in during my childhood, so my ears perked up when I heard a classmate in third grade refer to a storybook character being as fast as The Flash. Naturally, I went up to him after class and promptly informed him that The Flash was on trial for murder. He, of course, stared at me with utter confusion and walked off in silence. My hopes of a comics buddy were dashed yet again.

Anyhoo, I remember being filled with a sense of trepidation and history as I bought (well, my mom bought) the "Final Issue of...The Flash!"

I didn't actually read a Wally comic until much later, although I had read a good bit of Teen Titans with him as Kid Flash. I've only read Flash comics in short bursts, sprints rather than marathons, if you will, so I don't really have a good reason to say that Wally is my Flash, and yet, he is. Probably because I think of him as a more developed character than Barry.

[Chris Fluit]

Wally

[suedenim]

Barry's definitely my Flash. Flash #273 was one of the key comic books in keeping my interest in comics as a kid. The cover caught my eye, though I'd never really thought much of the Flash as a character before. "Running fast" didn't do much for me, but the addition of "vibrating his molecules" was something different!

And as it happened, I came in just before Iris' murder. I didn't know Iris all that well, but I knew this was something you didn't see much in comics! Cary Bates' ongoing drama pulled me in.

Of course, I liked Wally too, and since he was Kid Flash, he felt like a natural continuation to me.

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Wally. He was the Flash when I first started reading comics in the late 80's, so naturally he's my Flash. And I don't mean the whiny Mark Waid Flash 2, I mean the AWESOME Mark Waid Flash 1. In all seriousness, it was actually William Messner-Loebs' writing that made me love Flash, along with Greg LaRoque's artwork. I just remember the McGees and Chunk in those early works of theirs, and then the whole thing was just perfected by Mark Waid (even though he shed the supporting cast except for Linda). Beautiful stuff. Then Geoff Johns was no slouch when he took over.

Yeah, give me Wally any day.